The Virgin Ben displays a little gay panic of his own when Democrats threaten his right to "express" himself:

Democratic tolerance means tolerance for secularism, but absolute intolerance for religion. Democratic tolerance means tolerance for their supporters, but absolute intolerance for their political opponents.

The proof is in the pudding: The House Democrats are currently pursuing policies that would criminalize religious thought and crack down on political speech. On May 3, House Democrats voted to create extra penalties and additional investigatory funding for crimes committed against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals, transvestites and others with statistically deviant "sexual orientations" or "gender identities."

This bill is aimed at quashing traditional religious thought. No one advocates violent attacks in any case -- all this "hate crimes" bill does is stigmatize anti-homosexuality religious principle. All "hate crimes" are thought crimes, designed to more harshly punish offenders for their racism, sexism or religious bigotry. By lumping in "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" with categories like race and religion, House Democrats seek to legally enshrine homosexuality as morally legitimate.

Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Shepard met McKinney and Henderson in a bar. According to McKinney, Shepard asked them for a ride home. Subsequently, Shepard was robbed, severely beaten, pistol whipped, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area and left to die. McKinney and Henderson also found out his address, intending to burgle his home. Shepard was discovered by a cyclist 18 hours later, still alive but unconscious.

Shepard suffered a fracture from the back of his head to the front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. As he lay in intensive care, candlelight vigils were held in support around the world.[3]

He was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. on October 12 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins[4][5][6][7]. Police arrested McKinney and Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun as well as the victim's shoes and wallet in their truck.

During court cases both of the defendants used varying stories to defend their actions. They attempted to use the "gay panic defense", arguing that they were driven to temporary insanity by Shepard's alleged sexual advances toward them. At another point they stated that they had only wanted to rob Shepard and never intended to kill him.

The prosecutor in the case charged that McKinney and Henderson pretended to be gay in order to gain Shepard's trust to rob him.[10] During the trial, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price (the pair's then-girlfriends) testified under oath that Henderson and McKinney both plotted beforehand to rob a gay man. McKinney and Henderson then went to the Fireside Lounge and selected Shepard as their target. After befriending him, they took him to a remote area of Laramie where they robbed him, beat him severely (media reports often contained the graphic account of the pistol whipping and his smashed skull), and tied him to a fence with a rope from McKinney's truck. Both girlfriends also testified that neither McKinney nor Henderson were on drugs at the time.